You picked up golf because your friends like it, because it was good for networking. You learned how to dress well so you could meet pretty strangers at the bar or the club. You’ve sat through concerts you didn’t like, tried food you weren’t interested in, all because your date wanted to. You remember the names of everyone on your team, you listen with a smile to the most boring stories your clients tell you.
Why?
Because there’s something in it for you.
Yet with your own kids, you simply cannot bring yourself to understand the appeal of watching someone else play video games on YouTube. You just have to let them know how terrible this music sounds. You always forget the names of the people from their school, you tune out when they’re telling you some confusing story that just happened to them.
That’s pretty unfair isn’t it? The lengths we’ll go to impress a boss or to make a stranger feel like we care, we don’t want to extend to the little impressionable people who just want to be seen and heard. It’s like we keep our opinions to ourselves..until we get home, where we suddenly become judgmental and incapable of suffering fools or giving the slightest courtesy.
C’mon. You can do better. You can be kind and interested. You can learn to like this too. You can figure out what they like about it. You can have your mind opened. You can foster connection.
It’ll be wonderful not just for them, but for you too.